Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger Page B

scientific instruments. The walls were tacked with sketches of complex devices. The room, like the hallway, was in chaos. It might have started life as some kind of laboratory or engineering chamber, but its contents were now overturned, smoked, and covered liberally in black powder.
    “I suppose Professor Lefoux and her students haven’t hadmuch luck in creating an alternate prototype,” said Sophronia mildly.
    “Whot?” The vampire sucked on a fang, looking thoughtful. He turned dark eyes on his newest student. “Appears as if they haven’t. Wait a moment there, whot! Where did you come from, young lady?”
    “Your class, sir. Remember, we were just there.”
    The vampire only looked at her, not even acknowledging her levity. “Tell me, Miss Temminnick. What was the first thing you wanted to know, just now, before the explosion?”
    Sophronia saw no reason to prevaricate. If he really wanted a window to her thoughts, then any possible rudeness was irrelevant. “Your range, sir. Being that you’re a rove, as I’m assuming this school is no hive, I was wondering how a vampire in a dirigible managed to float all over the place the way you do. Then I figured you must be bound to the school itself, or something like.”
    “Something like, indeed.”
    “
Then
I was wondering, since you were instructing us in defense against vampires, what would happen if you fell overboard. What would happen to your tether? Would it snap? Would you die?”
    The vampire narrowed his eyes, looking down his nose at her. He avoided her question by asking her one of his own. “And the explosion—what do you make of it?”
    “Perhaps Professor Lefoux should not have tried steel first.”
    “My goodness, you do pay attention.”
    “Will you be able to convince Monique to tell you where she stashed the prototype?”
    He said nothing at that.
    But she’s only a student.
Sophronia wanted to ask why they didn’t torture Monique or something. After all, this seemed as if it might be
that
kind of school.
    Professor Lefoux came bustling over. “Ah, Professor Braithwope. Sorry to disturb. Little problem with the you-know-what; probably shouldn’t have used steel. Copper is obviously superior.”
    Professor Braithwope looked down at Sophronia, who gave the vampire an arch look and returned to his classroom and the other girls.
    They were crowding the doorway, but had not followed her beyond leaving their own seats.
    “What happened?” Dimity asked breathlessly.
    “Someone seems to have exploded something black and powdery in a room near ours.”
    “Professor Lefoux and the senior girls,” said Monique, no doubt preferring to have been among them herself, explosion or no.
    Sophronia returned to her couch and took a seat, crossing her hands demurely in her lap.
    Dimity plopped down next to her. “Was it the…?” she hissed.
    “Yes.”
    “What could explode like that?”
    “Lots of things, I suspect.”
    “Sometimes I wish Pill were still with us. He knows all about accidental explosions. Then again, he
is
my brother, so it’s nice to be away from him.”
    “I managed to extract a bit of the black powder.” Sophroniashowed Dimity the fingertip of one of her gloved hands, which she’d purposefully run along the wall inside Professor Lefoux’s classroom.
    “I wonder if we could send it to Pill for analysis. Or, uh,
drop
it to him, I guess is a better way of putting it.”
    “Do we get post on board this thing?” Sophronia wondered. “If no one even knows where the school is at any given time, how would mail find us?”
    “Mummy said she would send me some of my favorite emulsified biscuits, so it must. She mentioned Pillover as well, so perhaps we pick ours up from Bunson’s.”
    “Oh, dear, Sophronia, your glove is dirty! Let me help you with that.” Preshea looked more distressed by the black on Sophronia’s white fingertip than she had been by the explosion.
    Monique said, “You aren’t permitted to have a soiled